In current wireless networks, a terminal needs to perform network discovery and physical connection establishment in a number of operation modes/states, such as, in initial network access state for getting initial network access, in power-saving mode (e.g., idle mode) for continuously monitoring the tracking area for location update, or in connection mode (e.g., active mode) for handover. The search includes carrier/channel search, time synchronization, frame boundary search, etc. Current network discovery/search generally is based on a blind physical layer (PHY) search and measurement by the user equipment (UE). The complexity of this operation depends on the size of search space. The blind search and measurement approach is both time and battery power consuming for the UE or mobile terminal.
In evolving wireless networks such as fifth generation (5G) dense heterogeneous network (HetNet) deployment, UE discovery of a small cell may be difficult using strictly PHY measurement by the UE, for example due to a strong macro signal. Similarly, in a 5G multi-interface/multi-carrier band co-existing network, network discovery/search is difficult using only PHY measurements due the much larger search space. This approach can be problematic for mobile terminal handover (HO) in active state and for tracking area(TA) tracking in power saving mode in 5G implementation, for example. The problems above become more severe in dense wireless network implementation. There is a need for an improved wireless network discovery/search and physical connection establishment method that overcomes such issues.